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Monday, July 29, 2013

I guess this
is technically Chicken Parmesan made with fried eggplant instead of chicken and
minus the parmesan cheese. I don’t know. What would you call it? Delicious?

4 servings

Vegetable
and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for frying

1 large
eggplant, sliced into ½” slices

Salt

Flour, for
dredging

2 beaten eggs,
for dipping

Italian
seasoned bread crumbs, for coating

1 fresh
mozzarella cheese ball, sliced

Package of
your favorite fettuccine

1 jar of
your favorite pasta sauce (I used a sausage sauce to add some meat to the dish)

3 large
fresh basil leaves, sliced, for garnish

Sprinkle
sliced eggplant with salt and set aside. This will start to sweat the eggplant
to remove the extra water.

In a large
frying pan, heat half vegetable oil and half EVOO over medium high heat. You want
the oil to come half way up the eggplant slices when cooking. While oil is
heating up, finish preparing eggplant slices.

Using a dish
towel or paper towel, rub eggplant slices with salt and remove excess water.
Set aside.

Prepare
three bowls in the following order: flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Taking each
eggplant slice, dredge in flour, dip in egg and then coat with breadcrumbs.
Drop in oil and cook until each side is golden brown, only flipping once.
Remove from oil and place on a wire rack; set aside.

In the
meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions; drain and toss with pasta sauce
to heat through. Set aside.

Once all the
eggplant is fried, top each slice with mozzarella cheese and place under a
broiler until cheese is bubble and starts to turn brown.

To plate,
add pasta topped with eggplant and sprinkle with fresh basil.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

When my
husband told me that he didn’t care for the Czech style potato salad that my
family makes, 1) I was shocked that I’ve never heard this before considering we’ve
been together for 10 years, and 2) how can you not like the potato salad?! It’s so good! His friend did confirm
that it was strange to have peas and carrots in a potato salad, which didn’t
occur to me as strange considering that’s how I’ve always had it.

So, since we
were having our friends over for a BBQ this weekend, I decided to have a ‘battle
of the potato salads’ and let our guests decided which on was better. Here are
the two contenders: Czech Potato Salad and a Vinaigrette Potato Salad. Let the
battle begin.

I recommend
making the salad a day before to let the flavors blend overnight.

Czech Potato Salad vs. Vinaigrette Potato Salad

Czech Potato
Salad

3 large Yukon
Gold potatoes

2 large
carrots, diced

½ cup
frozen peas

2 celery
stalks, diced

1small
yellow onion, minced

2 green
onion sprigs, diced

2 large
pickles, diced

2 Tbsp
minced fresh parsley

Dressing:

¾ cup
mayo

2 tsp Dijon
mustard

1 tsp
sugar

2 Tbsp
pickle juice

Salt and
pepper, to taste

In a large
pot of salted water, boil potatoes whole until skins break and they are fork
tender. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel skins and cut
into cubes. Add potatoes into a large bowl.

While
potatoes are cooling, dice carrots and place in a small pot of boiling salted water.
Add peas and cook until carrots are fork tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and add
to large bowl. Add remaining ingredients.

In a small
bowl, combine ingredients for dressing. Whisk together until combined. Add to
potatoes and veggies. Gently toss with dressing. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Vinaigrette
Potato Salad

3 large
Yukon Gold potatoes

5 strips of
bacon

3 green onion
sprigs, diced

½ small red
onion, finely minced

2 Tbsp
minced fresh parsley

2 celery
stalks, diced

3 hardboiled
eggs, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper,
to taste

Champagne
vinaigrette (store bought)

In a large
pot of salted water, boil potatoes whole until skins break and they are fork
tender. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel skins and cut
into cubes. Add potatoes into a large bowl.

While
potatoes are cooling, cook bacon in a frying pan until crispy. Remove bacon
from pan onto a paper towel lined plate to soak up extra grease. Once cooled, roughly
chop and add to bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl. Mix together. Add the
eggs last, gently folding in with dressing. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

I love salmon. I can literally eat it every day. I’ve also been
on a kale kick. And that’s how this little beauty was created. This was yesterday's healthy lunch.

12-14 oz minced or ground fresh salmon

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp mayo

1 large slice of sourdough bread, diced (you can use regular or
panko breadcrumbs too)

1/4 small red onion, minced

½ small red bell pepper, diced

1 Tbsp freshly minced Italian flat leaf parsley

½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Kale, stalks removed and roughly chopped

Thinly sliced red onion, 2 or 3 rings

Vinaigrette dressing

2 Ciabatta rolls

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Caprese salad

1 large, ripe tomato, sliced

1 large fresh mozzarella ball, sliced

Balsamic vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Sea salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

4 large fresh basil leaves, sliced

In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients for salmon
patties. Using wet hands, shape mixture into 2 patties. Over medium high heat,
grill until cooked all the way through, about 3 minutes per side, depending on
thickness.

Cut Ciabatta rolls in half and lightly brush insides of rolls
with EVOO. Place open sides on grill to lightly toast.

In a small bowl, combine kale and red onion. Toss with
vinaigrette.

To plate, make a Caprese salad on one side by layering slices of
tomato and mozzarella. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Sprinkle with
salt and pepper. Top with basil leaves.

Assemble salmon burger by placing salmon patty on toasted bottom roll. Top with kale salad and add top roll.

Steam cubed
potatoes for about 20 minutes, until fork tender. Drain water from pot and add
potatoes to pot, add broth, seaweed, milk and butter. Mash together. Season
with salt, to taste.Cover and set
aside.

Season both
sides of tuna filets with salt and spicy seasoning, such as cayenne or Cajun seasoning.
Grill over very high heat until both sides are cooked and center of fish is
pink.